Chapter 519: Kill the Enemy!
For a moment, Du Tiechuan found himself in a dilemma.
Making the Steel Torrent Formation change direction was naturally impossible. If it could turn flexibly, when facing the Ghost Gate Pass earlier he would not have forced himself to continue the charge—how good it would have been to simply bypass it. Why sacrifice twenty percent of his forces?
But if he continued advancing and crushed his own vanguard army, the main force itself would not suffer much loss in numbers.
However, that did not mean their combat strength would not decline.
According to military strategy, the ones who carry and unleash military arts are usually the soldiers themselves. The army’s morale and fighting spirit have an enormous impact on combat power.
Once they slaughtered their own comrades, the enemy would certainly rejoice, their morale surging, while their own side would know clearly that they had fallen into the enemy’s vicious scheme and had been toyed with in the enemy’s palm. No matter how powerful their military arts were, they would appear foolish and clumsy.
When morale plummeted, combat power would collapse as well, exposing a huge flaw for the enemy to exploit.
One must know that although Iron Flow Across the Plains was extremely powerful, they had already penetrated deep into enemy territory. If their combat power dropped severely, they would certainly be surrounded and attacked.
Sure enough, before they even reached the vanguard camp, the main army had already fallen into an uproar, the soldiers’ hearts wavering.
The soldiers were shaken, and the generals were no different.
If they truly slaughtered their own allies, how would they explain it upon returning to the Royal Capital? Severe questioning would be inevitable. Those without strong backing might even be imprisoned and convicted.
Such was the atmosphere in the court of Liangzhu Kingdom.
Sun Gan had already served as a warning before.
In that earlier ambush battle, the Golden Halberd Army under Sun Gan had been trapped by the Mist-Laden Map of Light Mountain. Although they eventually broke out, they had missed the chance to rescue their allies.
The White Jade Camp suffered catastrophic losses, losing both men and resources.
Large numbers of aristocratic heirs had died, and the court held deep resentment toward Sun Gan.
Later, when Sun Gan interfered in Mu Lan’s affair, he further angered the King of Liangzhu Kingdom.
Thus, during the later probing operation, Du Tiechuan directly sent the Golden Halberd Army out as a pawn to investigate the military strength of Thousand Peaks Forest.
As a result, Sun Gan was captured and the entire Golden Halberd Army was annihilated.
Now, the situation of the heavy-armored main army was even worse!
They had not missed the opportunity for battle, nor had they stood by while allies died.
They were about to slaughter their own comrades!
Even Du Tiechuan, the Grand General, would bear tremendous responsibility.
Even if the king pardoned him, his reputation would suffer a devastating blow.
If he truly charged straight through today, who would dare serve under his command in the future?
Such infamy was too heavy.
If mishandled, Du Tiechuan would be sidelined, his path as a commander nearly severed.
At this moment, Lu Hongtu watched the battlefield quietly.
A faint smile rested on his face. Calm and composed, he enjoyed the wonderful sensation of controlling the entire situation.
The surrounding cultivators occasionally cast admiring and reverent glances toward him.
The leader of the Six Caves Sect was displaying the might of his strategic wisdom at this moment.
“Du Tiechuan… even if you are a Soul Formation–level being, the choice you make now will affect your entire life.”
“So, what will you choose?”
“I, Lu, am quite curious.”
At this moment, Du Tiechuan seemed to have considered countless things—yet also seemed to have considered nothing at all.
His expression was calm. His eyes stared straight ahead, neither scattered nor wavering, not the slightest hesitation present.
Just as the Deputy Generals anxiously awaited his command, he spoke—
“Advance.”
Only two words.
The Deputy Generals widened their eyes. Someone urgently transmitted with spiritual sense:
“But, Grand Commander—”
“Continue advancing,” Du Tiechuan said again.
His tone was ordinary, neither passionate nor bitter, still brief and concise.
The Deputy Generals were dumbstruck, chills running through their bodies.
“Stop! Stop quickly! We are allied troops!” generals in the vanguard camp shouted in panic.
The elite soldiers stationed there also fell into chaos.
This vanguard army was part of Liangzhu Kingdom’s regular forces, highly trained and disciplined. Many of them knew the terrifying power of Iron Flow Across the Plains.
“If we stay here, we’ll die!”
“Retreat!”
“Damn it! There are formations everywhere around us—we can’t get out. To escape we must break the formations.”
But breaking the formations would require time.
At this critical moment, that was fatal.
Several Deputy Generals rushed to the main commander.
“My lord, it’s impossible to break the formations in time.”
“The enemy’s scheme is too vicious. Since they designed it this way, they certainly won’t let us escape easily.”
“What should we do?”
“If we fight with all our strength, attacking and defending desperately, perhaps there is still a sliver of hope!” a young general shouted angrily.
His suggestion was supported by many generals.
The middle-aged commander glanced deeply at the young general and sighed heavily.
“At this point… we can only do that.”
Immediately, he took out the General’s Seal and took command at the center, ordering the Deputy Generals to return to their positions, guard the formation nodes and formation lines, and assemble the strongest battle formation.
The soldiers were mobilized. For the sake of survival, they would surely fight with all their might.
“If we give everything, perhaps we can still live!” the young general shouted to encourage others.
However, just as the battle formation was about to complete—
It suddenly collapsed.
The formation failed. Soldiers screamed and fell. Countless people spat blood, while many fainted on the spot.
Chaos erupted everywhere.
The generals themselves suffered backlash.
The young general shouted in disbelief:
“Impossible!”
Blood flowed from his seven orifices as he rushed toward the commander’s tent and roared:
“My lord!”
The commander had suffered the heaviest backlash. He lay on the ground in a pool of blood.
Soon the Deputy Generals gathered in the tent, all injured.
Seeing the commander’s state, their expressions of shock and anger slowly faded.
Only the young general remained furious.
The commander looked around calmly.
“If we resist stubbornly, we will inevitably weaken the combat power of our own main army.”
“This is precisely the enemy’s vicious scheme.”
“If we do so, we will fall into their trap.”
“Therefore, I deliberately caused the formation to fail. If Iron Flow Across the Plains crushes us like this, it is the best decision for the overall battle.”
“Marshal Du Tiechuan… though I do not like him, we are soldiers of Liangzhu Kingdom. We must see the situation clearly.”
“The enemy’s scheme is vicious. If we exhaust the main army in fighting us, the outcome of this war may still be uncertain.”
“But if we act this way, this new army will inevitably become a grieving army with explosive morale!”
“Everyone! Remember clearly—the ones who framed us are the enemy, not our allies. Only by doing this can we truly take revenge. It is the last thing the enemy wishes to see.”
“Cough… cough…”
As he spoke, the commander coughed up blood.
Some Deputy Generals looked grave, some burned with rage, others clenched their teeth in hatred, but none refuted him.
Even the young general fell silent.
“Damn it! To be calculated by the enemy like this…”
“Even as a ghost, I won’t let the one who devised this scheme go.”
“The lord is right. Though unwilling, we can only accept it.”
Someone else coughed blood and laughed bitterly.
“What other choice do we have? Even if we wished to resist, with injuries like ours there is no hope.”
“My lord… I hate you, but I also respect you.”
“If we die for the country like this, our clans will surely receive the king’s rewards and support. Fine… let it be so.”
The Deputy Generals were convinced—or forced to accept it.
They returned to their posts, calming the soldiers and removing all defensive formations.
Only the young general remained.
He walked to the commander and knelt, trying to help him up.
But he failed.
The commander’s injuries were too severe—any movement might end his final breath.
Thus the young general simply held his father’s upper body.
He clenched his teeth, but tears streamed down his face, falling onto the blood-stained armor.
The commander’s eyes had grown dim, his life reaching its final moments.
He barely recognized the young man.
“I’m sorry… your first time going to battle ended like this.”
The young general, choking with grief, suddenly laughed.
“Father… I trained for decades. I dreamed countless times about my first battle.”
The commander also laughed faintly.
“Brat… in the army you must call me ‘my lord’…”
His voice grew softer.
Then it stopped.
The young general froze.
Tears poured down his face, yet he grinned brightly.
“Father, don’t worry. Even if we all die, I still have a son—and you have a grandson. The Wu family will surely prosper!”
He carefully laid his father’s body on the ground.
Then he stood up, put on his helmet, lifted the tent curtain, and strode out.
He ordered the gates opened, stood atop the gate tower fully armed, raised his arm, and shouted:
“Soldiers! Shout with me—Kill the enemy!”
The vanguard army had already understood the situation under their generals’ command.
When they heard the young general’s shout, blood surged through them.
Many shouted at the top of their lungs, eyes reddening.
“Kill the enemy!”
“Kill the enemy!!”
“Kill the enemy!!!”
They abandoned all defenses, wearing full armor only for dignity in death.
Their shouts shook heaven and earth, reverberating through the sky.
At that moment, they seemed even louder than the thunderous roar of Iron Flow Across the Plains.
“Those vanguard troops…”
Countless soldiers in the heavy-armored main army had tears in their eyes, their hearts surging with emotion.
Du Tiechuan took a deep breath.
For the first time, his voice was no longer calm as he roared:
“Advance!”
Rumble…
Iron Flow Across the Plains instantly crushed the vanguard camp, grinding everything into dust.
The vanguard soldiers stood proudly in place, unmoving, facing death with unmatched courage.
Their cries of “Kill the enemy” continued until their final moments.
It was a charge, a hope, and a responsibility that fell like a mountain upon the shoulders of the heavy-armored soldiers.
The morale of the heavy-armored main army exploded.
“Kill the enemy!”
“Kill the enemy!!”
“Kill the enemy!!!”
They charged forward while shouting.
The cry of “Kill the enemy” did not die with the vanguard army—it was naturally inherited by the heavy-armored main army.
No one wavered any longer.
Every heart burned with fury.
Ning Zhuo was among them.
Even though he was from another nation, he was deeply shaken by the scene.
He was infected by the moment and threw himself into the roar of the army.
At that instant, his comprehension of Iron Flow Across the Plains broke past its previous limit and reached its peak.
He could not only sense the emotions of the comrades around him—he could even perceive the thoughts of dozens nearby.
“The enemy is too vicious. Find the one who designed this scheme—I will grind him to ashes!”
“Kill! Kill the enemy! We must kill twice as many to avenge the vanguard!”
“If we don’t drown the mountains in blood, we will never rest!”
United as one, the army’s power surged.
The heavy-armored main army crashed toward Dragon King Giant Tree Mountain with terrifying ferocity.
“Such iron-blooded spirit… magnificent,” even Shen Qinghe murmured, her heart surging despite herself.
Zhu Xuanji’s eyes flashed as he sighed.
“Though Liangzhu Kingdom is small, its soldiers fight with their lives. They cannot be underestimated.”
In contrast, the cultivators of the Thousand Peaks Forest Alliance all wore grave expressions.
Lu Hongtu’s earlier elegance was gone. His face was ashen.
Before the vanguard’s sacrifice, he felt like a clown.
Grandfather Long looked extremely worried, fear hidden deep in his eyes.
He stared at Dragon King Giant Tree Mountain and cried inwardly:
“No… the enemy must not be allowed to topple Dragon King Mountain!”
Yet even someone as powerful as him dared not face such a torrent head-on. He knew that with his strength alone, stopping such a Steel Torrent was pure fantasy.
Grandfather Long was powerless.
The other cultivators were even more helpless.
The mountains trembled violently.
Countless ginseng roots burst from the ground like giant dragons and massive pythons.
In the blink of an eye, the battlefield was transformed.
Brown-red roots filled the mountains, blotting out the sky as tens of thousands surged toward the Steel Torrent.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The roots smashed into the torrent, sending up waves of black metal.
Yet the Steel Torrent continued to surge forward.
Each root lasted at least twenty breaths before breaking apart.
Countless gigantic roots struck from every direction—front, sides, even behind—whipping, smashing, surrounding, and splitting the heavy-armored main army.
A brutal melee unfolded before the watching cultivators.
For the first time, the Steel Torrent was truly restrained. Its speed dropped rapidly.
Only Dragon Ginseng King, with true Soul Formation–level power, could achieve such a feat.
Yet the ginseng roots suffered enormous losses as well. No matter how many were destroyed, more continued to surge forward without end.
“Kill the enemy!”
“Kill the enemy!!”
“Kill the enemy!!!”
The heavy-armored main army continued roaring in unison.
Ignoring the comrades dying beside them under the roots’ attacks, they followed Du Tiechuan and pressed forward.
Boom!
Breaking through countless assaults, they slammed into Dragon King Giant Tree Mountain.
Countless defensive formations, spells, and talismans on the mountain flashed with dazzling light.
They lasted less than ten breaths.
Then the mountain shook violently—
And slowly toppled.
Boom…
The earth trembled as smoke billowed everywhere.
Dragon King Giant Tree Mountain had fallen.